


New Perspectives

by NightmareAmpersand



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6036121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightmareAmpersand/pseuds/NightmareAmpersand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes some distance, whether in length or time, can help to change your outlook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Perspectives

**Author's Note:**

> Destiny is owned by Bungie, as is everything that they have put into the game. The personalities of the characters are the only things I claim in this story.

Zeph marveled at how even a few dozen feet of height could significantly change the perspective of something she thought she knew well. She’d been on her own that day, while both Ignis and Duke were helping out other friends with various missions. Ignis was helping another to track down various materials for Lord Shaxx so he could make a heavy sword, similar to what the Hive used, and Duke was running with another group on the Dreadnaught, spending the day summoning overpowered champions with the runes they’d been finding.

She couldn’t say that she was particularly sad at the prospect of spending some time alone. On days like that the Cosmodrome beckoned her, a familiar and (relatively) safe place where she could take her time with whatever she decided to do. The Steppes had little to offer besides an extermination beacon, so she left the opening area behind, working her way through the hanger and out into The Divide. The Taken had decided to invade shortly after she walked outside, so she put in the time and effort to help the other two Guardians in the area wade through the lieutenants and finally take down their champion, driving them off for at least a short time. Afterwards, she debated which of the two available beacons to select and, using the time-honored process of ‘Eenie Meenie Miney Moe’, picked the beacon that same with an assassination request.  
Struggling through a narrow crack in the wall of the buildings to the back of the Divide, she found her target in a disused storeroom in The Breach. All of the enemies seemed more powerful and aggressive since the Taken had shown up, and the Servitor she hunted down was no exception. It struck hard and nearly managed to get through the last layer of her armor before she landed a well-aimed shot to its’ central sensor and caused it to explode into fragments. The others in the room took little time to mop up, and once the room was cleared she sat down and examined her armor where the Servitor had landed its lucky shot. 

“You should go back to the Tower and have someone look at that.” Ghost, providing light for her to see within the dim room, actually sounded concerned. 

“I’ve had worse injuries,” she shrugged, fastening up her armor over the spot once again. “Besides, there’s nothing for me to do there…no one seems to have found any new shards for me to translate. I’d rather keep busy.” She stood and looked around, deciding what exactly to do next. She knew there were other Guardians and more beacons and enemies out in The Divide, but no sounds of outside conflict reached into the muffled silence of the Breach.

“Zeph…the exit is over there.” Ghost was obviously trying to be kind, thinking she’d gotten turned around (and to be honest, it would be far from the first time that happened to her), but she heard the undertone of worry and impatience. He obviously didn’t like the idea of them being so isolated from other Guardians and any potential help.

“I know,” she replied, deliberately walking towards the hallway leading further in. “Coming?”

Her progress through the dim hallways was easy and uncontested. Although she still ran into frequent trip-wire grenades and web-mines, the Fallen who’d set them in place were no longer in the area they’d claimed in the name of the House of Wolves. After Skolas had been recaptured and stuffed back into the Prison of Elders, the remaining contingents that were under his banner had either scattered or were killed by the Guardians, Hive, Vex, and the other Fallen Houses they’d managed to piss off (which turned out to be most of them, actually). Nowadays, the Guardians only ever saw the odd contingent from the House of Wolves on Mars, staking a small area in the far corner of the Rubicon Wastes. Though they were tougher than their counterparts from the earlier uprising, they had no chance against a combined force of Guardians, Cabal, and Taken, and were very easily kept in check.

Eventually the hallways led outside once again, and it took a moment to readjust to the dazzling sunlight. She found herself in an open area where a cracked road hosted hundreds of rusting vehicles and the grassy plains stretched to the horizon. She’d been to this place exactly twice before. Once was when she she’d been hunting down the Wolves with Ignis and Duke, aided by Petra and Variks over the comms. In a reflexive action she aimed her Suros scout rifle just above a marquee next to the entryway, but the sniper who’d taken that perch was long gone and no one had taken its’ place. With a few practiced jumps she propelled herself up to the ledge and, after a quick check over the field for enemies, sat down. The height gave her a new moment of clarity, and she remembered the very first time she’d been here. 

_Light…dazzling, bright, coming from the west. Sunset. I’d left just after breakfast. How bad was this traffic jam?_

_Light. Little Light. A ball, spiky bits that rotated with agitation. It spoke. Urged me to move. We had to hurry. Danger._

_Pavement. Hot, cracked, grown over. Car…one of many. All rusted, falling apart. Just how bad was this traffic jam?_

_Noise. Loud. Not from me. Scared. Running, tripping over metal, stone, own feet. A building ahead. Safety. Cool. Dark. Quiet._

“Hey…Ghost?” It floated in front of her, looking inquisitive. She wasn’t normally talkative when she was alone…Ghost probably spoke more in their first week together than she had in a month. “How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“About me? That I was the one you had to revive? I mean, did you know? Or was I just the first one you came across that you could revive?” Ghost made a few small movements, side to side with a slight spin to its shell, a dance she recognized as discomfort with a topic.

“No one knows how we know,” he finally said. “The Speaker thinks that the Traveler made us with a certain type of Light we could attune with. No two are the same. When I found you, your Light resonated with mine. I knew that you were the one I was looking for.”

“So we were made for each other,” Zeph chuckled. With a deft movement she pulled off her helmet…not ideal when there were likely murderous bands of Fallen roaming about, but she wanted to feel the warm sun and cool breeze on her face for a while. “It was strange waking up that first time, you know. I still remembered what I’d been doing before I died. It was like no time had passed at all…I was in my car, driving to the college, got stuck in a traffic jam, dozed off, then woke up to find everything aged but me.” Zeph’s thoughts continued, though she didn’t voice them aloud. Her birthday had been the day before. She’d quit her job…slicing potatoes and dropping them into boiling oil didn’t seem like much of a promising future. She was going to the local college to see about scholarships, grants, and loans. She also swam as often as she could, and the college had an Olympic-standard swimming pool on campus. She was worried, agitated, and scared…her future at that point in time seemed so uncertain and relized so heavily on luck. She’d even cursed the Traveler…an omnipotent being that could supposedly make life better for all humans, and she was stuck in a downward spiral. If only she knew…if only…

“Zeph?” She blinked, shaking herself from her thoughts. It obviously wan’t the first time Ghost tried to get her attention. 

“Yes?”

“You have messages from both Ignis and Duke. They want to meet up in the Tower plaza, as soon as possible.”

“All right…I guess we’ll go.” She strapped her helmet back on, pretending to not notice Ghost’s obvious relief at getting back to ‘civilization’, and in seven short seconds she was back in her ship and headed for the Tower’s docking bay.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually do this stuff in-game, too. This came to me the first time I went all the way through The Breach after TTK was released and, although I did jump on scaffolding and sit for a while, I wasted more time being stupid with grenades and the edges of the map. Ah, good times...


End file.
